4 days into my cycle.

[reefmaster70]

Hey all. Ok...I admit, I'm a "test a holic". I'm just one of those people that like seeing what my water is "doing" every day. Anyway....... TODAY is day 7 (yes only one week) into my cycle. I ONLY tested Ammonia this afternoon. With two kits (API and Hanna). my tank was at 2.0ppm Ammonia yesterday. Today, my tank registers < .15ppm on Hanna checker and it reads 0ppm on my API test. So that's cool. adding seeded rock and sand really does seem to help a ton.

Anyway, I wanted to confirm how quickly my Ammonia gets converted over, so I DO have a bottle of Dr. Tim's Ammonia here, and before I add it, I was just wondering if you all think this would be a good idea to do to confirm conversion?? I could add 80 drops to my tank to take Ammonia back up to 2.0ppm and see if it's back down to 0ppm by tomorrow (24 hours later). Should I do this??

Thanks again.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey all. Ok...I admit, I'm a "test a holic". I'm just one of those people that like seeing what my water is "doing" every day. Anyway....... TODAY is day 7 (yes only one week) into my cycle. I ONLY tested Ammonia this afternoon. With two kits (API and Hanna). my tank was at 2.0ppm Ammonia yesterday. Today, my tank registers < .15ppm on Hanna checker and it reads 0ppm on my API test. So that's cool. adding seeded rock and sand really does seem to help a ton.

Anyway, I wanted to confirm how quickly my Ammonia gets converted over, so I DO have a bottle of Dr. Tim's Ammonia here, and before I add it, I was just wondering if you all think this would be a good idea to do to confirm conversion?? I could add 80 drops to my tank to take Ammonia back up to 2.0ppm and see if it's back down to 0ppm by tomorrow (24 hours later). Should I do this??

Thanks again.

I personally see no reason to add it, but as a one time addition, it isn’t likely to hurt.

 

[reefmaster70]

I personally see no reason to add it, but as a one time addition, it isn’t likely to hurt.

Thanks Randy....I may add it just this once, as I'd like to confirm that I am converting over adequately and that my cycle really is done this early on.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy....I may add it just this once, as I'd like to confirm that I am converting over adequately and that my cycle really is done this early on.

Sounds fine. :)

 

[reefmaster70]

Todays testing (02/01/2025)
Temp: 78F
SG: 1.024
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0ppm (non-detectable on two tests, Salifert and Hanna)
Nitrite: 2.0 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm

Think I am going to do a bit of a water change today to try and drop nitrite a bit at this point.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Think I am going to do a bit of a water change today to try and drop nitrite a bit at this point.

Why? Nitrite is harmless.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

Why? Nitrite is harmless.

Nitrate is harmless… not nitrite.

 

[Uncle99]

In the first post you said you used 8 year old rock from another system.

So, IMM, there’s no cycle. The old rock is already cycled.

So first fish go in same day for me.

 

[Fish Fan]

Great read!

Nitrate is harmless… not nitrite.

In marine systems, nitrite is largely consider not to be harmful, contrary to freshwater where it is dangerous.

I would definitely take that shrimp out. Stick to fish food or Dr.Tims ammonium chloride, and the bottle bacteria.

I hate to get in the middle of a holy war (or do I lol!), but I am not a fan of the shrimp thing. Does it work, yeah, it does. The bacteria you need are on the shrimp too, so technically that's all you need, no bottles of anything - just time. But why start a tank with a rotting piece of dead seafood when there are other options? At the least, you have no control over how much ammonia is being released (not that that's a problem, necessarily) and at the most, it can stink - literally lol! And besides, you show me a shrimp, and I'm going to show you some garlic and lemon, and that shrimp will never get to my tank lol!

@flyweed you're getting great advice here from reefers I respect very much, keep going, you'll be fine. Good luck!

 

[gbroadbridge]

Nitrate is harmless… not nitrite.

Nitrite is harmless for marine animals.

If this were a freshwater forum you would be correct in that Nitrite is harmful to freshwater animals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just an fyi, it takes hundreds to thousands of ppm nitrite to kill a marine fish. Reef tanks never attain those levels, even during cycling.

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[southeastfishaddict]

Just an fyi, it takes hundreds to thousands of ppm nitrite to kill a marine fish. Reef tanks never attain those levels, even during cycling.

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

In the ocean yes, in a fish tank it’s a different story.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In the ocean yes, in a fish tank it’s a different story.

If by that you are claiming that nitrite is toxic in reef aquaria but not in the ocean, you are mistaken. It is toxic in fresh water aquaria. Don't assume that translates to seawater. It does not for clearly understood chemical reasons.

ALL of the studies I show in the link are studies in tanks, showing it takes hundreds or even thousands of ppm of nitrite to kill a fish.

I don't even know how one would get some patch of the ocean to 500 ppm nitrite to test your hypothesis.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

If by that you are claiming that nitrite is toxic in reef aquaria but not in the ocean, you are mistaken. It is toxic in fresh water aquaria. Don't assume that translates to seawater. It does not for clearly understood chemical reasons.

ALL of the studies I show in the link are studies in tanks, showing it takes hundreds or even thousands of ppm of nitrite to kill a fish.

I don't even know how one would get some patch of the ocean to 500 ppm nitrite to test your hypothesis.

OIC, it was always my understanding that fresh water chiclid fish were much hardier than my reef fish. I wouldn’t be able to picture my tangs in thousands, hundreds or even double digit nitrites, yet my previous chiclids would probably be just fine.

Since we were exaggerating a bit, I threw the ocean in the mix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OIC, it was always my understanding that fresh water chiclid fish were much hardier than my reef fish. I wouldn’t be able to picture my tangs in thousands, hundreds or even double digit nitrites, yet my previous chiclids would probably be just fine.

Since we were exaggerating a bit, I threw the ocean in the mix.

I cannot assess freshwater fish hardiness, but in the case of nitrite, all freshwater fish are far more sensitive to it since it is the salt itself that prevents the uptake of nitrite in seawater. :)

 

[reefmaster70]

Juste updating my thread. Today (02/06/2025) just 9 days in and my Ammonia is at 0 ppm, Nitrite at 1ppm, and Nitrate at 10ppm.

I just added 2 small green chromis, an emerald crab, and two frags of some frilly mushrooms a day ago. Everyone is happy, mushrooms are opening up well. Tank it looking great. I think

 

[CrewePD210]

Good Work. This thread answered a lot of questions I has as well, as I am using he shrimp method. I have been away for about 30 years, and that was the new way to do it then, vs the blue damsel method. Mine seems to be working well and its like 2 weeks, almost all of half of a U12 shrimp is gone, and it didn't smell at all or even look rotting. Thanks for all the tips